That’s why I said it would be a good idea to share the concrete prep and loadout, because it might not be a bug. It could be a rebalance.
Respectfully, if you expect a couple of pets – one of which isn’t even level 20 – to defeat the guards at the entrance to what was originally supposed to be one of the most important endgame dungeons, then I would argue that the problem might be with your expectations. It never made sense to me to breeze through the volcano and into the Well of Skelos.
Then again, it could also be the case that Funcom’s attempt to balance that aspect of the game went too far. They’re known for snafus like that. That’s why I keep saying you should share the concrete info.
At any rate, even if it isn’t a bug, if there was an actual change, it wasn’t reflected in the patch notes, so the patch notes would have to be updated at least.